The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-09-28
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "How to Treat Company"
TEXT: Giuen to Hospitality. Romans,

TEXT: GlueR u doSpttutty. -A9olnoA',
Iii, 13
There is danger that the multiplication Of
large and commodious hotels i'll our towns,
and cities, and villages, will utterly extermi-
nate that grace which Abraham exhibited
when he entertained the angels, and which
Lot showed when he watched for guests at
the gate of the city, and which Christ recog-
.uized as a positive requisite for entering
beaven, when he declared: Il was stranger
and ye took Me in"
propose to speak this morning of the trials
and rewards Of Christian hospitality. The
first trial often comes in the whim and &c
centricity of the guest himself. There are
great many excellent people who have pro-
hberances of disposition and sharp edges of
temperament, and unpliability OF character,
which make them positive nuisance in any
house where they stay. On short acqualnt-
Rnce they will begin to command the house
hold affairs, order the employees to unusual
service, keep unreasonable hours, use narcotics
IN places offensive to sensitive nostrlls, put
their feet at unusual elevations, drop the ashes
of their Havana on costly tapestry, open
bureaus they ought never to touch, and pry
into things they ought never to see, and be-
come impervious to rousing bells, and have
all the pecuiiaritieS of the gormandlzer or the
iyspeptic, and make excavations from poor
dentistry with unusual implements, ami IN
q thousand ways affiict the household which
.proposes to take care of them. Added to all,
shey stay too long: Thy have no idea when
their welcome is worn out, and they
would be unmoved even by the blessing
which my friend Gerrit Smith, the philan-
;khropist, asked one morning at his breakfast
table, on the day when he hoped that the
long protracted guests would depart, saying:
80 Lord, bless this provision, and our friends
who leave US to-day" But, my friends,
49, Ha tkair do
of the SCALE Perhaps they have not had the
same refining influences about them in early
life that you have had. Perhaps they have
Inherited eccentricities that they cannot help.
Perhaps it is your duty, by example, to show
chem better way. Perhaps they are sent to
be a trial for the development of your
patience. Perhaps they were to be intended
as an illustration of the opposite of what
you are trying to inculcate in the minds of
your children Perhaps it is to make your
home the brighter when they. are gone.
When our guests are CHEEKY, and fascinating,
and elegant, it is very easy to entertain
them: but waen we find in our guests that
which is antagonistic to our taste and senti-
ment. it is O positive triumph when we can
obey the words of my text and be given to
hospitality"
In the toll and expense Of exercising it. In
the well regulated household things go
Emoothly, but now you have introduced
foreign element into the machinery, and
though YOU may stoutly declare that they
must take things as they find them, the
Martha will break in. The ungovernable
stove, the ruined dessert, the joint that
proves to be unmasticable, the delayed mar
keting, the perple1ites of a caterer, the diff
Guilty Of doing proper work, and yet always
being presentable. Though you may say
there shall be no care or anxiety, there will
be care and there will be anxiety. In 1884
the Captain General provided very grand
entertainment, and among other things he
had fountain in his garden-a fountain of
strong drink. In it were four hogsheads or
brandy, eight hcgsheads of water, twenty
five thousand lemons, thirteen hunredweight
of Lisbon sugar, five pounds Of grated nut
meg, three hundred toasted biscuits, and
boat built on purpose was placed in the foun-
tain, and a boy rowed around it and filled
the cups Of the people who came there to be
supplied. Well, you say that was lux
urious entertainment, and OF course the
man had no anxiety; but have to tell you,
that though you had, or propose, an enter
tainment like that, you have anxiety. In
that very thing comes the Divine reward.
We were born to serve; and when we serve
Others we serve God The flush on that
womans cheek, as she bends over the hot
stove, is as sacred in Gods sight as the flush
on the cheek of one who, on a hot day,
breaches the Gospel We may serve God
with plate, and cutlery, and broom, as GER
tainly as we can serve Him with psalm book
and liturgy. Margaret, Queen OF Norway,
and Sweden, and Denmark, had royal cup
of ten lips, on which was recorded the names
of the guests who had drunk from this cup.
And every Christian woman has royal cup,
ON which are written all the names of those
who have ever been entertained by her in
Christian style-names not cut by human
ingenuity, but written by the hand Of
Divine Jesus. But, my friends, you are not
cleanliness of appointments will be good
enough for anybody that ever comes to
your house. John Howard was invited to
the house of nobleman. He said: Il will
come on one condition, and that is, that
you have nothing but potatoes on the table"
The requisition was complied with. Cyrus,
King of Persia, under the same circumstances,
prescribed that on the table there must be
nothing but bread. OF course these were
extremes, but they are illustrations Of the
fact that more depends upon the banQueters
than upon the banquet. l want to lift this
idea Of Christian entertainment out Of a posi-
tive bondage into a glorious inducement.
Every effort you put forth, and every dollar
you give to the entertainment Of friend or
AOc, SOu give W SurlSU. OuppCSe IL
were announced that the Lord Jesus ChrfSt
would come to this place this week, what
woman in this house would not beglad to
wash for Him, or spread for Him bed, or
bake bread for Him There was one OF old
who washed for Him, drawing the water
from the well of her own tears. he Is COM
ing, He will be here tomorrow. "lnasmuch
as We have done it to one of the least OF these,
my brethren, ye have done it TO Me" In Plct-
ho, Of ranrpSnnta- A.
tions Of Walter Scott AMI his friends, or
Washington Irving with his associates; but
all those engravings will. fade out, while
through everlasting ages, hanging luminous
and conspicuous, will be the picture OF you
and your Christian guests.
You see we have passed out from the trials
into the rewards Of Christian hospitality
grand, glorious, and eternal Inc mrs! re,
ward of Christian hospitality is the Divine
benediction. When any one attends to
this duty, Gods blessing comes upon him,
upon his companion, upon his children. upon
his dining hall, upon his parlor, upon his
nursery. The blessing comes in at the front
door, and the back door, and down through
the skylghts. God draws long mark OF
credit for services received. Christ said to
His disciples: He that receiveth you, re.
ceiveth Me; and he that giveth cup of cold
water in the name Of disciple shall in no
wise lose his reward" As we have had SO
many things recorded against us in heaven,
IL will be a satisfaction to have written on
unfailing archives, the fact that in the
month Of May, or June, or September, or De
cember 1887, we made the tlissful mistake
Of supposing that we were entertaining weak
men like ourselves when 10! they showed
their pnions before they left, and we found
out that they were angels unawares
Another reward comes Ii the goou WISHES
end nr,yers of our quests. | do not think
ones house ever gets over having had good